I went back to Neti in Gludin Village to thank her for her help in getting into the
rogues' guild. She was busy with a few other apprentices, so I looked around her shop
a bit and spotted a fellow handing out papers to a small group of people.
I greeted the group and asked what was being handed out there.
"Quizzes," said the one distributing the forms, "for people interested in obtaining a wolf collar."
I figured this was some kind of kinky Dark Elf thing so I nodded and slowly headed for the door.
Luckily, someone else interjected and explained the reason for the collar.
"You can't get a pet wolf without a collar, and you can't get the collar if you fail the test."
Pet wolf? Pets have proven rather useful in the past realms I've been to, so this looked like an
opportunity waiting to be had. A pet would make a rather nice compliment to this new set of skills I've
trained in, as one could really help increase damage output. I decided to inquire about it.
Martin introduced himself and relayed the terms of the deal. He explained that the spiders on
The Island have a certain liking for the taste of wolves, and that he could be pursuaded to help me
out if I headed back home and put a bit of hurt on the spiders. Seemed like a reasonable deal to me seeing
as I have been looking for an excuse to toss those eight-legged freaks a bit of payback anyway.
I had 80,000a and an extra ticket for The Island in my pocket, so I headed to the harbor to await the
next boat. There were only a handful of people at the dock, but it was a congenial crowd. Time passes
quickly when you're chatting, and the boat soon arrived to carry us back home. Sashion, one of the people
waiting for the boat, felt that tickets were unecessary, but failed to realize that one needs faster reflexs
if he chooses not to be a ticket holder. Smirk, leap, splash... we watched as he made is way back to shore
to wait for the next boat.
Wow! The boat ride was a LOT less choppy and significantly safer than it used to be.
No one was tossed overboard, and no one mysteriously disappearred halfway there.
I stopped into town to pick up some arrows and soul shot, and then headed straight for the waterfalls.
There was an area not too far from the toads that was one big slope of spiders. There was a certain
satisfaction to slaughtering these freaks. When I started on The Island, spiders were something that you
kind of looked at only over your shoulder as you ran over bridge and between tree to escape the damned things.
With a pile of bloodied spider parts in my sack I headed back to The Village, but the five-minute warning from
the lighthouse rang out, so I skipped the town visit in order to buy a ticket and catch the present boat back to the mainland.
Not a moment to spare and I was on the boat and on my way to Martin.
Martin was very thankful for the help with the spiders, and gave me a list of people to speak with about
caring for and maintaining a pet. He explained that he's only trying to make sure that I'm prepared as a
pet owner, and that my wolf ends up well cared for. It seemed reasonable enough, so I took his list of people to visit
and headed off to restock.
My first stop was Belladonna in Gludio. Since I'm trying to save up for some armor, I saw no reason
to drop 3,000a on a gate there, so I hoofed it around the mountain and over to Gludio Castle Town.
It took barely any time at all and before I knew it, Belladonna was filling my head with all sorts
of interesting and useless facts about wolves. Well, not really useless, but I don't plan on breeding
the lil guy, so... yeah... kinda useless.
Even though I was right here at Bella, I decided to still trek it to Dion. The trip proved worthwhile, as I
found several places where I could come back for some rather easy and lucrative hunting. On top of that,
right outside Dion I found a whole little village of hobgoblins and orcs that just begged to be farmed.
Dion Castle Town was more of a hamlet and a lot smaller than the other towns I had been to so far. It was a
nice little village and reminded me very much of Skara Brae. Sprinkle in a few naked nobles on horseback and it would
be a pretty close copy. The shops had a wider range of supplies and armor than in Gludio, and the various vendors
outside peddled much finer armor and weapons than Gludin and Gludio combined. I think that after all is said and
done with this current mission, I will return here and base myself out of Dion for a while. But, to return to the task at
hand, I circled the town to find Metty, the guard I was told to speak with.
Metty told me the hows and whys of a wolf's hunting habits, and also mentioned that one of the quickest ways to
distinguish a wolf from a dog is the wolf's drooping tail. When he was done, he mentioned that Ellie in Giran
would be able to tell me a lot more about caring for wolves than he could. I thanked him and told him that is where I
would be heading next.
Being an advocate of enjoying the journey and of saving what few coins I had, once again I took to the road rather
than catch a gate. Giran was "just on the other side of the Execution Grounds" according to a Dwarf I asked, and was
"a safe run with WindWalk". I didn't know what WindWalk was, but I knew how to sprint a bit so I figured I'd be fine.
Not. Not fine at all. The Execution Grounds were a nightmare. Heading in, I was attacked by freakish little plant imps.
Once across some odd landbridge, I ran out of road and was faced with a huge wall and really nasty
looking bats all around. I dodge some of the bats, and head across to find a way around the wall. There was none that
I could readily spot so I turned around to see I gathered a sizeable train of zombies. Big unhappy zombies. I fired a
few shots into the pack but I was barely denting them. I could probably kite one, but 6 or so isn't going to happen.
To my right was steps headed up the wall, so I head over to them, ran up and right into the arms of something blue-ish,
big, and ticked off. With a roar and a swing of its arms, it battered me about pretty good. I spun around to run
down the steps and there was the legion of undead lumbering up the stairs. I figured I was screwed, and my only hope
was to go over the edge. So over the side of the steps I go with the big blue bastard right behind me. I'm following
the wall to avoid the bats, and I lose the blue thing around a turn.
I spot a corridor up ahead and it looks like a passage to the east. I figured that it was probably what I was looking
for to begin with, so snuck up towards it and ducked behind a tree for cover. I caught my breath, slammed down a heal
potion and looked up at the tree. I think the tree was about the freakiest thing there. Partially because it had axes
and corpses hung by chains from the branches, but promarily because it turned around and attacked me.
No, I don't expect you to believe that. I don't expect anyone to beleive that. I am hoping that each and every reader
that says "Zhel, c'mon... are you sure you downed the right flask? Any chance that was a bit of mead you chugged?" gets
the opportunity. Nay... takes the opportunity.... makes time for the opportunity to go to the Execution Grounds
and see these trees in action. I could not believe I was chased down and killed by a tree. I tried to make a dash for
the corridor, but the thing rooted me, stomped up behind me, and smacked me clear back to Dion.
Check inventory: everything ok. Nothing dropped. Well, enough for the 'trekking' idea. I went to the Gatekeeper and for the low
low price of 8,000a she said she'd gate me to Giran. I consider that robbery but, considering the alternative, I decided to fork
over the cash. ZAP... Giran in seconds.
Once in Giran, I tracked down Ellie and spoke with her about the wolves. She spent a good amount of time going over care and
protection of the wolves with me, and we both agreed that I had reached a reasonably good understanding of the
responsibilities of taking care of a pet wolf. I thanked her for the information, purchased some arrows, and headed over
to the armory to see what kind of goodies they carried here. The armor was of even higher quality than in Dion, and...
what's this?!?!?! The Reinforced Leather Leggings! 100k, but still doable if I spend some time hunting around Dion for a day
or so to make up the amount I'm shy. I was psyched and couldn't wait to get my pet and come back to do some farming and
get those leggings. An added reward to the trip!
I dropped the 8k to zap over to Dion, and then paid again to shoot to Gludio. From Gludio, I ran to Gludin and spoke with Martin
again. Martin was happy to see me back so soon and hoped all went well because it was now Quiz Time! All I could think about
right now was getting back there to get those leggings and be that much closer to a complete set. The information was fresh in my
mind so I sped through the quiz, handed it back and waited for the results.
Martin smiled and congratulated me on passing the test.
"Great work," he cheered, " and a perfect score. Hey, since you're getting the collar and wolf, you might as well get him set
with his starter armor and starter weapon, right? Take these... and this." He handed me two sacks of equipment and my Wolf Collar.
"Summon the pup up and give him a name!" he said. I took the collar outside, activated it and in a flash and a swirl of runic-looking
patterns, my new pet rose from the ground! I fastened his armor and weapon on to him, and he smiled up at me (as best a wolf can
smile), licking my face.
He stuck his nose in the bag,
glanced up at me,
stuck his nose in the bag,
glanced up at me...
"What's up, pup?" I asked as the wolf began to wimper.
"He's hungry. They're always hungry, " said a despondent looking elf trudging into the shop with a smiling wolf
and a huge sack of cash, " ...always hungry. Feed the wolf.... always hungry... feed-" and his voice trailed off as he
disappeared into the shop.
I looked at my wolf, told him not to worry and ran inside to get food.
"30 bags please," I asked as I took out my adena. Counting it, I realized that the gates, restocking, and wolf equipment
did a number on my finances.
"Umm... make that 20 bags, please."
Broke again, but I've got my pet and a good 20 bags of food. We should be set for a while and we can make
back that money in no time. After all, how much can it cost to feed one little wolf?
Another mission accomplished, and now it was time to focus on finishing my set of armor.
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